I ran across this early diagram of Stephens County made in about 1876, with the locations of the forts I have been writing about the last few weeks. Fort Davis is up in the far left-hand corner along the Brazos River. The ranches located near there include the Ward Brothers, Adkin Brothers (Atkin?) and the Wasson Cattle Ranch.
Transparency bills are moving forward in the Texas Legislature with bipartisan support to promote open government and correct public information access problems that arose amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The morning news programs and talk shows are full of praise for men and women who were the first of their race, their religion, their graduating class, etc. to do something. Of course, we have the first woman Vice President … but she is also the first Black and/or Asian to be Vice President of the United States. She’s not the first child of immigrants … several of the founding fathers were children of immigrants and immigrants themselves. Think: Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, even George Washington, although born in the colonies and qualified to hold the highest office was a child of immigrants. So, it’s not such a big deal that Kamala Harris is a child of immigrants. Her real “first” has to do with being a woman Vice President of the United States.
They’re just kids. And yet, we enter them in contests…last week my high school students had up to six contests they participated in: area track, two FFA events, golf, regional one act play, and regional UIL, while they prepared for cheer tryouts this week, STAAR testing as it also began this week, and state FFA contests, as they are also this week. Not to mention the prom, which was held last Friday. And, the 4H horse judgers had their district meet. I reiterate: they are just kids.
What makes Fort Davis unique was the daily diaries maintained by Sam Newcomb and his wife, Susan (Reynolds) Newcomb. They recorded who lived at the fort extensively and those who visited periodically. Additionally, Newcomb established a school at the fort so the young ones could continue with their education. Both Sam and his wife, Susan, kept detailed accounts of who visited the fort and what was their purpose for being there. They also recorded the different activities that occurred at the fort along with the births, deaths, funerals and weddings.
There are a handful of college coaches in this land whose names are interchangeable with the colleges they served during their entire careers.
Happy Birthday April Born!! Can you hear me singing? Ada Smith! Joel Dyer! Danna Miller! Gary Sullivan! Johnny Vickers! Teddy Clark! Spencer Clark! Tobi Nowell! AJ Clark! Happy Birthday to you! And, many more!
We are not at the end of the tunnel when it comes to the pandemic which has dominated the news, limited our access to family and friends, and generally made recluses out of all of us. Those of us on the “mask-side” look down our noses … well if the fog in our glasses clears, we look down the ramp at those who “don’t believe.” I would say that most of the “mask-side” is either vaccinated or on the way to being fully vaccinated. The rest of the population either sees the vaccine as a danger to their own health or a waste of resources when “this too shall pass.”
Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order last week banning state agencies, cities or counties from creating a “vaccine passport” requirement.
The first time we lived in Woodson, the first day of my first teaching job, I pulled into the school parking lot, and watched a little tiny girl bounce from her car, hug her momma and run to play. Her momma reached back into the vehicle and grabbed a stack of stuff that indicated she was a teacher; she glanced my way and saw the worry in my eyes. She chuckled, introduced herself, welcomed me, asked my name and said to follow her. Since 1983, that’s what I have been doing: following the example that Linda Dean set.
